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[Bogotyr]

So I built a caravan road into the caverns where I am living (with ramps and everything) and it passed through a light aquifer.  I didn't initially seal the aquifer correctly so there was 1/7 water in some parts of the road.  Something happened when the dwarven caravan tried to cross this part of the road and a wagon exploded or something.  One of the merchants was hanging onto the wall next to the ramp and couldn't get off until I built a floor over the ramp next to him.  Everyone else had left by that point except for one swordsdwarf who waited for the merchant and left with him.  There are now no merchants or wagons on my map and neither the caravan nor the outpost liaison has come for three years (falls).  I am quite certain my civilization is not dead and I get a notification every season that my fort attracted no migrants.  I have fixed sealing up the aquifer so the road is now dry and the human caravan makes it to my trade depot with its wagons. 

Is there a way to make the liaison and caravan come back? 

[anewaname]

Do you see information in the 'c' 'c'ivilizations screen for your mountainhome, or are their sites visible on the the map? Something may have happened. I don't know how to check if their caravan is still "stuck" but am fairly sure the humans would not have arrived if the dwarfs did not officially leave.

[Bogotyr]

There are over a dozen nobles and a king listed in the civ screen from my civilization and lots of sites visible.  I am not positive as to where the mountainhome is.  Does the caravan stop coming if the mountainhome is gone even if other sites are present?  It just seems odd that the caravan and liaison being gone is related to a world event since it coincided with the wagon accident.  Anyways, I'm waiting it out and making sure that my dwarves get married to get the population up the old fashioned way.  3 marriages are already in the books and I would have a 4th except it seems that couple is afraid of commitment. 

[PatrikLundell]

Civs can't die during play, currently. Conversely, you get the message about failure to attract migrants even with dead civs.

I think caravans may fail to arrive if the mountainhome is under siege or something like that, so it can happen that caravans just won't show up for several years in a row, and then suddenly show up again.

As far as I understand, the number of migrants you attract is largely determined by how dangerous your fortress is (lots of dead dorfs - attracts few migrants). However, I think the status of your fortress was carried back with the outpost liaison in the past, although that might have been changed.

Check that you haven't set a population cap that blocks further migrants.

[Bogotyr]

Thanks for the replies everyone. 

A couple thoughts:

--I have in the past had the dwarven caravan come while the humans were still there (they got attacked by a werebeast and decided to stay until I deconstructed the depot).  So I imagine the reverse is true that the humans coming doesn't mean anything in particular about whether or not the dwarves have left. 
--While danger does play a role (you can get the message that migrants have come despite the danger), I believe that a large part of how many migrants you attract is based on your wealth as reported by the dwarven caravan (this is what the wiki says and it seems to be true as I am getting no migrants when there is no caravan, deaths right now are at a minimum and mostly just a bunch of old dwarfs that are dying off since many of my first migrants were in their 130s and 140s).
--I have messed around with the pop cap in the past but right now it is set to 120 and my population is 83.  Also, if you are above your strict pop cap, my experience is that you don't get the message that your fortress attracted no migrants this season. 
--As I said before, it's certainly possible that my lack of caravan and outpost liaison is due to a world event, but it seems to have coincided with the wagon deconstruction.  I also don't get a message of "No outpost Liaison, how strange."  Not sure what that means, exactly. 

[Schmaven]

I've seen caravans not show up for sevetal years in a row, then randomly start appearing again.  Though in my case, it was the undead wildlife murdering everyone that seemed to have discouraged their return visits.  But eventually they starting coming again.  So I'd let it play out and see what happens in the next few years.

[Thisfox]

I've had the caravan disappear for a few years and return.

On one occasion, it was because a wagon got hit by a fast moving tree and scuttled, and the rest of the caravan fled in terror. They didn't turn up for three years.... and when they did come, they were very very poor, as they apparently had lost all their fortune by having a caravan unexpectedly scuttle.

On another occasion, there was something to do with the trees on the edge of my map trapping them. When I cut down all the trees along the edge of the map, I got traders again. I'm told it's a known bug, but I really didn't identify it as one until I cleared those trees... When I have a fort rich in rock blocks, I try to pave the edge of my map these days, to help the caravans make it through easily.

[Bogotyr]

There is a 6 year old in my fort that was born here and has never seen a dwarven caravan.  I'm not planning on quitting the fort, so I'll keep you updated on how old she is when the first caravan arrives, if it does.

[Bogotyr]

So they just arrived.  The outpost liaison acting like everything was normal and the caravan coming with a modest load.  It's been 11 years since I saw them last.  No real explanation as to what made them come back. Some merchant was stuck and eventually died or went insane, maybe.

[Thisfox]

Congratulations!

Were they rich in goods and caravans? Did they bring what you requested all those years ago?

[Bogotyr]

They didn't seem particularly rich.  Two wagons, total caravan value around 45k.  I don' t think that I requested anything from the liaison last time, so no way of knowing there.